Banking Technology
Finma fines Swiss bank CEO $752,000 for insider trading
Switzerland’s financial regulator Finma has fined the CEO of an unnamed Swiss bank $752,000 to reap back the illegal profits he made form “serious” insider trading.
The executive took advantage of confidential market information about the bank’s clients to trade it through covert deposit accounts owned by his wife at other banks, “thus violat[ing] the bank’s internal directives,” says Finma.
“Insider trading undermines confidence in the market,” says Finma’s enforcement head Patric Eymann. “We will, therefore, continue to rigorously investigate any evidence of violations of supervisory law.”
The regulator says the violations continued over “many years”, with the exact time period not made clear.
It adds: “Besides conducting insider trading the person concerned systematically breached the bank’s internal directives as well as directives recognised by Finma as a minimum standard over a period of many years through other private trading activities.”
The unnamed CEO was given a four-year ban on taking any financial management role by Finma, and a six-year ban on his licence as a securities dealer.
Read more: Bank of England seeks public cloud technology partner
Traditionally opaque in its approach, the past ten years recent have seen the Swiss regulator take a more open approach to certain insider trading cases. In the past ten years, Finma has named and shamed its worst offenders in a bid to deter others from following in their footsteps.
Swiss corporate turnaround manager Hans Ziegler was named as a subject of the regulator’s investigations in 2016, and in 2017 he was found guilty of 11 counts of insider dealings at six different banking firms. He was fined $1.4 million dollars.
This latest case of the unnamed CEO harks back to a similar case in 2012 – the former chairman of Switzerland’s central bank, Philipp Hildebrand. He was forced to resign during allegations of insider trading committed in his wife’s name. The executive denied the allegations and did not face a formal sanction.
Many other – perhaps deemed more mild by the regulator – wrong doers are still left unnamed. This prompted a report in November last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) instructing Finma to allocate more resources to its operations and commit to greater openness.
“The application of Switzerland’s regulations should be transparent to facilitate review,” the report said.
Read next: Greensill pledges to help SME suppliers after ombudsman probes
-
Artificial Intelligence3 days ago
Nvidia Takes Intel’s Place in Dow Jones Industrial Average
-
Business Technology3 days ago
CyberACE Leads NFT Industry Transformation, Building a New Global Hub for Digital Art
-
Technology2 days ago
The Essential Guide to WhatsApp Group Links: Build Your Community
-
Business Technology1 day ago
Elevate Your Kitchen Design with Click Countertops’ Premium Countertop Selection
-
Latest News13 hours ago
Top Reasons to Choose Custom Website Design for Small Businesses in Melbourne
-
Artificial Intelligence2 days ago
Wall Street Analysts Express Optimism for Tech Stocks Amid Election Uncertainty
-
Business Technology23 hours ago
Pink Diamond Coin Announces its $100K Challenge, Aiming to Reach $100,000 Before Bitcoin
-
Business Technology15 hours ago
The Benefits of Partnering with a Martech Agency for SaaS Businesses